Just before bedtime : wp_user disappears!

  • Mark Watson

    (@mark-watson)


    14 years, 6 months ago

    I set up a wp site a fortnight ago, installing aok, and tweaking the atahualpa theme etc.

    All fine and dandy on Monday evening. Away a couple of days and I get back to find that the site isn’t working, the index.php telling me that there is a problem connecting with the database. Looking at MySQL I can see the database ok, but the wp_user is simply gone! Clearly not something I would have done.

    The database table looks ok as far as I can see, without any clear spam, or new users created. So I’m perplexed as to why the wp-user just disappeared. Is this indicative of hacking?

    And if I simply re-create a user with the same name/password, will the site magically re-appear?

    Any help appreciated. Getting a bit late now here in the UK as I have to be up and out early tomorrow am, so if you are good enough to reply, I might not be back to you for some hours!

    Thanks in anticipation.

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • whooami

    (@whooami)

    14 years, 6 months ago

    what is wp_user? are you referring to wp_users, which is a table? or what?

    thats an i8mportant question because you also say this:

    The database table looks ok as far as I can see, without any clear spam, or new users created.

    Thats confusing since there could be no new users created without the table being there.

    Thread Starter Mark Watson

    (@mark-watson)

    14 years, 6 months ago

    When you install wp, you create a database in mysql, and create a user in mysql, and then link the two. Then you install wp.

    It’s this mysql user that has disappeared. The database is still there, and I can browse that and see the 3x users I created within wordpress (or the one admin created when installing wp, and two I created). And in the sql dbase I can the posts and settings for the theme etc. No clear evidence of spam in there, just confused as to how the sql user to link with the database has gone.

    whooami

    (@whooami)

    14 years, 6 months ago

    When you install wp, you create a database in mysql, and create a user in mysql, and then link the two. Then you install wp.

    No? 😛

    so the user that you created to access this particular DB is gone.

    talk to your host. Im not sure what else anyone might suggest.

    Thread Starter Mark Watson

    (@mark-watson)

    14 years, 6 months ago

    so the user that you created to access this particular DB is gone.

    talk to your host.

    I’ve got a support ticket in with them. I’m not familiar with SQL, so it’s a learning curve. Is this kind of thing likely to be down to them changing something?

    And if I or they do reinstate the user, will this restore the site aok?

    whooami

    (@whooami)

    14 years, 6 months ago

    Is this kind of thing likely to be down to them changing something?

    I cant think of anything else. If its a repeating occurance, you probably want them to take a look at their mysql logs for you — if theyre willing.

    Maybe its a script or a cron job or something? Honestly, I couldnt say.

    And if I or they do reinstate the user, will this restore the site aok?

    yes, it ought to.

    Thread Starter Mark Watson

    (@mark-watson)

    14 years, 6 months ago

    thx whooami, appreciate your help. I’m off to bed now.

    If anyone else has any contributions, happy for you to add to the thread.

    Thread Starter Mark Watson

    (@mark-watson)

    14 years, 6 months ago

    update : finally got time to look at the site, and it was easy to fix – just a case of re-creating the main sql user who is linked to the main sql database which holds wordpress.

    But the question remains, how did that sql user (the only sql user on my system) disappear? I certainly didn’t log into cpanel and delete the user.

    Mark / t31os

    (@t31os_)

    14 years, 6 months ago

    Did the host mention if they had any mysql server problems?..

    It could that the mysql server went down, data got lost, was restored by the host, and perhaps in doing so they missed a few users when doing the restore.

    Purely a guess, but i’d be inclined to think the problem is related to the host more so then someone hacking in and only removing a mysql user.

    Thread Starter Mark Watson

    (@mark-watson)

    14 years, 6 months ago

    i’ve updated my support ticket in with host uk2.net – almost 24hrs without a response!

    Mark / t31os

    (@t31os_)

    14 years, 6 months ago

    Whatever happens, be sure to report back..

    It may be they have a high volume of support requests and operate during office hours only (i could be wrong of course).

    I’d suggest not doubting them just yet though, see how good the response is when you do finally get one.

    If you’re unhappy with your host there’s lot of hosts recommended you could switch to, i’d suggest a search(on this forum) if you need a new one, pretty sure there’s several threads that cover that topic already..

    Unless you need the utmost best transfer speeds possible with the host, there’s also the option of using a US host. I’ve done it previously and the service was great (dependant on host of course), the exchange rate meant i was paying 25% less then i’d have paid with a UK host (at the time). All i’m saying here is, unless you have a strict requirement for a UK based host (and you’re looking at new ones), the US hosts are also worth a looking..

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
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